Ab-solutely strange
by Refuge959
Summary: Adrien gets a bit self-conscious after hearing Alya tease Marinette about Luka's vacation pictures. Or, Chat Noir brags about his abs a little too much. One-shot.


Chat Noir was deep in thought. A question had been nagging at him all day.

It had all started that morning at school.

~Flashback~

Adrien was sitting at his desk, watching as Nino worked on a mix for his uncle's retirement party. Behind them, they could hear Alya and Marinette's conversation. They weren't trying to listen in, but Alya was a little hard to tune out.

"Did you see the pics Juleka posted of their family vacation, Mari?"

"The ones from the beach trip? I hadn't had the chance to look at them." Marinette didn't even look up at Alya as she spoke, she was finishing off some homework for their next class. Well, trying to at least.

"Well, here girl! Look!" Alya shoved her phone at Marinette, and with a sigh Marinette flicked through the pictures and handed Alya back her phone. "Those are good." She said with a light smile before her pencil began to mark at her page again. Alya's brow furrowed.

"Good?" She asked in a slightly demanding tone, "Is that really all you have to say?" Marinette shrugged, her pencil still moving across her paper. Alya stared at her friend with a look of total disbelief. "Really? Marinette, did you even see Luka in these pictures? I expected you to be floored when you saw that boy's abs!"

At this point, Nino had pulled up the pictures on his own phone and was scrolling through them. Adrien looked over at them and sure enough, Luka's abs did look nice in those pictures. He rubbed his own self-consciously, mentally claiming victory when he had assured himself of his solid six-pack compared to Luka's four. Though he didn't really know why he cared.

"I don't know what you are making a fuss over, It's not like I've never seen them before." Marinette said suddenly, not even bothering to look up from her paper. Alya's face morphed into shock, Nino's eyes widened, and Adrien felt his stomach jolt as her words washed over them. They all stared for a moment, astounded at the words that had just come from Marinette's mouth.

Marinette's pencil froze as realization swept over her of what had just escaped her lips. Her cheeks reddened, and her eyes shut tightly. She spoke no word of correction, only took a deep breath. Slowly, her pencil started moving again.

"You've seen them before?" Alya asked in a hushed voice of shock. Nino glanced at Adrien in warning, knowing an explosion was inevitably going to come out of his girlfriend's mouth. "WHEN DID YOU SEE HIS ABS?" Alya's shout attracted the attention of several of their classmates. Marinette's face reddened further, and she seemed to sink further into her chair. A whimper escaped her lips, and she slowly began to answer in a rushed whisper.

"W-well... um the other day he was over a-and he took off his shirt so that I could fix a hole in it. B-but I already knew he was in good shape because when I take his measurements my knuckles drag on his stomach a bit. N-Not that I do that on purpose! It's really just an accident!"

Marinette groaned at her old habit. It always seemed to act up at the worst possible times. Alya, however, was quite pleased. She was wearing a sly look, and was obviously constructing a very direct question which her friend was in no way prepared to answer. Lucky for Marinette, their teacher chose that moment to enter and begin class.

But Adrien couldn't focus. Marinette apparently knew Luka's physique well enough that it didn't faze her when Alya pointed it out. But what was really bothering him, was why this bothered him so much. Why did he care if Marinette had seen Luka's abs? Still, He wondered how she had reacted the first time she saw them. How would she react if she saw his own abs? Adrien shook his head, trying to stop the downward spiral of that train of thought.

After class, he and Nino followed Alya and Marinette out into the hall. "Would you please stop, Alya?! What if Juleka hears you?" He heard Marinette plead as she looked around in search of their shy friend, or anyone else for that matter. "Oh please girl!" Alya laughed, "I'm sure Juleka already knows all about you and Luka's shenanigans. And if she doesn't, she should! You two are adorable!" Marinette groaned, and clutched her bag strap as Alya continued. "Anyway, I don't remember you ever telling me about your little encounter with Luka's abs. What gives girl? Aren't you supposed to tell me everything?" Marinette spluttered something unintelligible, and Adrien smiled at the sight. She was cute when she was flustered.

"I have abs too, you know."

The group froze and stared at Adrien. Adrien wasn't sure why he had so suddenly blurted out that fact. Marinette was staring dead at him, eyes wide and cheeks red. So, he decided to channel his inner Chat and role with the punches.

"I've had them for a while actually." He said, tapping his chin. "I've got a full six-pack, you know. Their _ab-solutely_ amazing."

Okay, so maybe that was too much Chat Noir. Alya sent him a surprised glance, Nino looked confused, and Marinette just stared at him with a cocked eyebrow. The pun sounded cheesy as it repeated in his head. But surely it was funny in context... right? "Uhh, good for you Adrien." Marinette said hesitantly before she turned and continued walking towards their next class. He decided not to bring the subject back up.

~Back to present~

Chat Noir was sitting on top of the Paris skyline. Beside him, Ladybug sat with a smile and a sleepy tint to her eyes. "Hey Ladybug," he said suddenly after quite a bit of silence, "Are girls impressed when guys have nice abs?"

Ladybug snapped her gaze to him, looking exceedingly confused. "Uhhh, Don't you have a girlfriend you could ask this?" He smirked at the slight bitterness in her tone, but reminded himself not to get too excited. "Yeah, I do." He answered with a shrug. "But she's out of the country, so I thought I'd ask you." Even if Kagami was in the country, he doubted he would have brought this up to her. It wasn't really a subject he felt she'd be willing to entertain.

"Well then, I guess yes... why?" Ladybug gazed at him suspiciously, wondering where he was going with this seemingly random question. "Well, one of my friends didn't think it was a big deal when someone brought up her boyfriend's abs today." Chat summarized, trying to leave out anything overly identifying, "She just sort of shrugged it off until one of our other friends pestered her about it further. And even later on, when I mentioned I had great abs, she didn't even care."

Ladybug nodded, thinking it odd that they had both had the same conversation with their friends. "I mean... Some people don't really care about the way a person's body looks. Or maybe she just doesn't like talking about it." She offered half heartedly, drawing on the text-argument she had with Alya earlier that evening.

"I suppose you could be right." Chat said, staring out at the city beneath them. "But, getting great abs is quite the accomplishment! Shouldn't she at least think it's cool? I mean, my time as Chat Noir has blessed me with a six-pack, and _purr-sonally_ I think mine are _Ab-solutely_ amazing."

Ladybug's mouth opened for a moment, then closed again. She stared at him, then looked away, then stared at him again.

"Say that again." She said, her face scrunching up as if she was trying to remember something.

Chat looked at her, confused. "I think it's a great accomplishment...?" "No, The other thing." She prompted with a wave of her hand as she looked out at the city bellow them. "The pun." "You want me to repeat my pun?" Now he was wondering if she was feeling okay. She never liked his puns! "Yes! Just say it again, please." He didn't know what was going on, but he shrugged and let the pun roll off his tongue again as if it weren't the third time he had said it that day. "Their _Ab-solutely_ amazing."

"Oh my gosh." Ladybug whispered, her hands pulling on her pigtails. "No. It can't be."

"What can't be?" Chat asked, entirely worried for his partner's mental health. She swallowed hard and looked him dead in the eye. "You're Adrien Agreste aren't you?"


End file.
